Pages

Saturday, 22 September 2007

Gay World Cup 2007

The opening ceremony for this week-long event, supported by FIFA, local and state authorities, will take place on 23 September 2007, in Buenos Aires (Argentina). It is the first time in the tournament's 16-year history that Latin American country has hosted the World Championship of gay and lesbian fooball teams. The choice of Argentina is not a random one. Besides brilliant football traditions, it is the only Latin American country where same-sex civil partnerships (aka marriage) are permitted.

Reuters reports that "twenty-eight teams, many representing cities in Europe, the United States, Australia and Latin America, as opposed to countries, will play in the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association's competition."

"If gay-lesbian soccer exists it's because gays and lesbians can't play the sport without suffering discrimination," said Cesar Cigliutti, president of the Argentine Homosexual Community gay advocacy group. "The sports world is very homophobic, very discriminatory and soccer is a prime example... That's exactly why these championships were born," he said.